International Women’s Day Concert -
It’s About Love

The Community Women’s Orchestra presents an International Women’s Day Concert, It’s About Love, in a concert of orchestral music exclusively by women composers. The program features award-winning Oakland composer Mary Fineman performing with the orchestra in her orchestral song cycle, It’s About Love. Also on the program are the popular D’un matin de Printemps by Lili Boulanger, Cecile Chaminade’s Callirhoë Suite, Op. 37, and the seldom heard Faust Overture of Emilie Mayer.

Together a celebration of rich and diverse music, these four captivating compositions by Mayer, Chaminade, Boulanger and Fineman stand as a testament to the extraordinary achievements of women composers.

Emilie Mayer • Faust Overture

Cecile Chaminade • Callirhoë Suite, Op. 37

Lili Boulanger • D’un matin de Printemps

Mary Fineman (Soloist and Composer) • It's About Love

MARY FINEMAN, SOLOIST AND COMPOSER

Mary Fineman's artistic spirit moves easily between two worlds, from the intimate universe of singer/songwriter to the expansive territory of the neo-classical world, bringing passion and a love of melody, whether for song, piano, chamber, ensemble, or orchestra.

Originally from Baltimore, where she studied music theory with Grace Newsom Cushman, Mary is now an Oakland based musician. She spent ten years in Montreal in piano studies with Lauretta Altman and Phil Cohen at Concordia University, where she also taught. She studied jazz at McGill University and accompanied instrumentalists, singers, and dancers as a freelance pianist.

Her music trajectory changed radically in 2003 after visiting an energy healer. Mary suddenly started to hear her own music, and began composing in diverse genres.  Performances include works for brass quintet, piano trio, concert choir (with Bryan Baker, conductor) and Pierrot ensemble with concerts at the Paramount Theater, Piedmont Piano Company, Center for New Music, the Marsh Berkeley and Old First Church in San Francisco and other venues.

2014 saw the world premiere of It’s About Love, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony under the late Michael Morgan, with support from the James Irvine Foundation.

Ms. Fineman received First Place in Music from the Biennial Competition of the National League of American Pen Women, and was a semi-finalist in recent orchestral and international piano composition events.  She has composed more than 80 songs and many piano works and she is a proud member of ccpas.org and nacusasf.org. Her CD recordings include Everyday Secrets, You and Me, Mary Fineman Solo Piano. Fineman's music has been featured on radio KDFC, Internet Archive, wosradio.com, and in the Call for Scores: Solo Piano by e4tt.org.

To learn more or listen visit:
www.maryfineman.com  
YouTube.com/maryfineman
Mary Fineman on Spotify

COMPOSER NOTES - IT’S ABOUT LOVE

It’s About Love, a song cycle for voice and orchestra, explores different facets of love. It has had only one prior performance, as part of a commission for the Oakland Symphony in 2014. In creating this, I chose 4 pieces which my instincts told me would lend themselves to orchestration. (This was my first time writing for orchestra, and these pieces, though deeply pianistic, seemed to be asking for broader instrumentation.)

I had often heard a different ending in It’s About Love that wasn’t possible for me to play on the piano. Morning Prayer (also called Chickadee) had fragments of melodies crying out for other instruments. And I Thought I Saw You had an introduction which I thought could be beautifully served by some of the woodwinds. Once I selected the four pieces, I was able to step back and see the unifying theme of love: whether love of nature and the sacredness of the everyday, love that endures despite loss, romantic love with its labyrinth of challenge and possibilities, or love of the world.

My next step I believed was to become a translator of the language of piano to the language of the orchestra. I was only partly correct in that belief! The piano has its own particular acoustics and decay of sound that can’t be replicated. I had to come to terms with that (and the role of the pedal) and know that I wasn't disloyal to my original work if I changed the palette of sound to new colors. I found, much to my delight, that the addition of new writing could enhance the original versions. I went from being a composer who very stubbornly did not want to change a single note of her original score to someone who reveled in the excitement of new material and timbres.

Each song has a history. For example, the song It’s About Love exists in two slightly different piano/vocal versions on two different CDs of mine (It’s About Love and Everyday Secrets). And The World Spins ‘Round, ‘Round is actually a song without words and one of my earliest piano works. It is particularly dear to me as I simply awoke one morning with the opening 32 bar chorale. Its music is bittersweet, with an interlude that is a glimpse of the equanimity (some may call Heaven) we all seek.

I believe that by remaining faithful to what is most personal and true for me, my music will contain the emotions and experience of other human beings as well. 

— Mary Fineman

Lyrics for It’s About Love can be found here: www.communitywomensorchestra.org/fineman-lyrics

MARTHA STODDARD, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Martha Stoddard has been Music Director of the Community Women’s Orchestra since 2022. She also has been the Artistic Director of the Oakland Civic Orchestra since 1997, transforming the orchestra over the past two decades. Praised for her clarity, generosity and vision, she continues to lead this orchestra through the unfolding challenges facing many orchestras in these difficult times.

In 2019 Stoddard was named a semi-finalist in the American Prize Competition for Conductors, Community Orchestra Division, and advanced as a finalist in July of 2020. Simultaneously she brought the orchestra into the final round of the Ernst Bacon Prize for the Performance of American Music, for their performance of Bruce Reiprich's Lullaby featuring Christina Owens, violin; J.P. Johnson's Harlem Symphony; and her own Waltz for the Fun of It.

She recently assumed the role of conductor for the newly-formed Piedmont Chamber Orchestra, and held the position of Resident Conductor for Enriching Lives Through Music, from 2017 to 2019. From 2012-2014 she was Program Director for the John Adams Young Composers Program at the Crowden Music Center, and frequently appears as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Composers’ Chamber Orchestra.

2023 - 2024 CONCERT SEASON 

June 2, 2024

Martha Stoddard • Parodies
Adolph Schreiner • The Worried Drummer
Amy Beach • Bal Masque
Antonin Dvorak • Symphony No. 8 in G Major

*Programming is subject to change.

JOIN US

The Community Women’s Orchestra welcomes all female-identifying musicians! We are especially looking for people who play the viola or horn.

We rehearse on Thursday evenings from 7:15 to 9:30pm in Oakland, and our season runs from late August through May.

For more information and to get in touch, go to: www.communitywomensorchestra.org/join-us

SUPPORT US

The Community Women’s Orchestra is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Federal Tax #27-010673, in the state of California. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. If you would like to support our mission, we offer an ability to do that through our website.

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To donate via PayPal or credit card, go to our website: www.communitywomensorchestra.org/donations

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We also accept donations by check. Please find our donation form on our website and send with checks to: 

P.O. Box 30924
Oakland, CA 94604

Employer matching gift program

Many companies encourage philantrophy by matching their employees’ donations. Each employer has a different process for matching donations. If you are interested in setting this up, we can help you through the process! Email us at info@communitywomensorchestra.org to get things started!

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A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO OUR MEDIA SPONSOR